SEATTLE — Going right down to the wire, the Washington Huskies held off the San Diego Toreros on Monday, 66-63. The Toreros had a chance to tie it with time dwindling away, but the Huskies secured the rebound after a would-be game-tying three caught the rim. The Huskies were led by Jaylen Nowell with 18 points and Noah Dickerson with 16. Dickerson also tallied eight boards and an assist.
Course Correction
Bouncing back from an away loss at No. 11 Auburn was imperative, and the Huskies showed up. The biggest hiccups the team faced at Auburn were addressed, namely second-chance points. After allowing 18 offensive rebounds on Friday, the Huskies held the Toreros to nine. Coach Mike Hopkins commented on the team’s tenacity, per Scott Hanson of SeattleTimes.com: “… when we needed to get stops, we did. When we needed to get a rebound, we did.”
Another big improvement came from Noah Dickerson. Dickerson fouled out on Friday after playing just 16 minutes, but on Monday, he didn’t pick up his second foul until late in the second half. He continued to make his presence known down low, especially with the team continuing to feed him the ball all night, but he occasionally lacked floor awareness to pass out of a double team to hit his open man.
Nahziah Carter sparked the offense early by scoring a team-high nine first-half points. He ended his night with 11 on 4-of-8 shooting in 19 minutes off of the bench.
Dominic Green went 0-of-1 from the floor with three rebounds in 18 minutes, but that may be a good thing. Green went 2-of-10 combined in his last two games with eight of his 10 shots coming into the game from beyond the arc. What’s worse is it seems all of his misses were six seconds into the shot clock. Controlling the pace and not jacking up threes in transition will better serve Green’s game in the long run.
Looking Forward
After three games and traversing the country twice in the last six days, the Huskies will get a breather before heading to Vancouver, BC on Sunday for the Vancouver Shootout. They will face Santa Clara, Texas A&M, and Minnesota during the trip.
